Legends of the Dark Ages Q&A

[Vigilance]

Yeah... I considered that, making the game more "gritty".

Certainly a dark ages game should have a little edge to it imo... the accounts of the battles seemed really pitched, and those involved seemed to feel their very national identities were at stake.

This to me was not the case in, say, the Hundred Years' War, which seemed more a war for European influence than survival.

On the other hand, dying from an infected sword wound doesn't seem like something most players would enjoy, so I mostly stuck to the regular combat system.

Also, a couple of the prime campaign models of the period I hope to write, Charlemagne and Arabian Nights are a couple of the least gritty legends you will ever read, so I took that into account somewhat when designing the basic rules.

Chuck

 

[Stormborn]

That certainly sounds interesting.

My goal was simply to turn Europe into the ultimate fantasy setting, but I like the idea of something off the wall like that.

Chuck

To clarify, a Dark Ages Delta Green-esque campaign wouldn't neccesarily have to be Lovecraftian in my mind. Set in the late 900s, the PCs could be agents of the Church who are fighting demonic entities invading the world as a prelude to Armeggedon, scheduled for 1000 AD. But, don't want to panic the peasents or insight the nobles, so the PCs have to keep it quiet. Or the enemy could be fey, and not really as evil as the church makes out. Or move it forward a little bit in a time of competing popes and have one be in leage with some lovecraftian cult and the PCs are a persecuted order of the true faith out to save the world.

Just some thoughts.

 

[MonsterMash]

Cthulhu Dark Ages takes a very gritty approach, which is appropriate to the system, but I've got to admit I'd prefer a more Song of Roland/Viking Saga/Arabian Knights or Arthurian approach with less of the grim and gritty.

I was very disappointed by R&R Excalibur and didn't buy it because of the shoehorning of standard D&D stuff into the Arthurian setting.

 

[Vigilance]

To clarify, a Dark Ages Delta Green-esque campaign wouldn't neccesarily have to be Lovecraftian in my mind. Set in the late 900s, the PCs could be agents of the Church who are fighting demonic entities invading the world as a prelude to Armeggedon, scheduled for 1000 AD. But, don't want to panic the peasents or insight the nobles, so the PCs have to keep it quiet. Or the enemy could be fey, and not really as evil as the church makes out. Or move it forward a little bit in a time of competing popes and have one be in leage with some lovecraftian cult and the PCs are a persecuted order of the true faith out to save the world.

Just some thoughts.

That sounds wicked cool to me. I thought about including some witchcraft oriented arcane magic classes in dark ages, but I decided to make the arcane magic as low key as possible in keeping with one of my themes for the book.

I really tried, in an odd sort of way, to treat the dark ages like a post apocalyptic world, with arcane magic representing technology. So in a way its a world being fought over by various religious entitites and barbarian tribes, and if you arent a member of one of those groups, you might be in trouble.

Chuck

 

[Vigilance]

Cthulhu Dark Ages takes a very gritty approach, which is appropriate to the system, but I've got to admit I'd prefer a more Song of Roland/Viking Saga/Arabian Knights or Arthurian approach with less of the grim and gritty.

I was very disappointed by R&R Excalibur and didn't buy it because of the shoehorning of standard D&D stuff into the Arthurian setting.

Yeah, R&R Excalibur took a different approach than I did in Legends of Excalibur (my Arthurian game in this series).

I took the d20 rules and bent them to fit Arthurian lore. And btw, not that I would ever pimp my books (yeah right), if you haven't checked out Legends of Excalibur it sounds like you'd enjoy it. It's still available in PDF. There's some more info here: http://www.rpgobjects.com/index.php?page=ex

And I cant say it was a bad approach (well I could but Im not gonna)... I know many people who think what Sword and Sorcery did was preferable.

Chuck

 

[Stormborn]

That sounds wicked cool to me. I thought about including some witchcraft oriented arcane magic classes in dark ages, but I decided to make the arcane magic as low key as possible in keeping with one of my themes for the book.

I really tried, in an odd sort of way, to treat the dark ages like a post apocalyptic world, with arcane magic representing technology. So in a way its a world being fought over by various religious entitites and barbarian tribes, and if you arent a member of one of those groups, you might be in trouble.

Chuck

And indeed in many ways it was a post-apocolyptic world, the fall of Rome (or, if you prefer, the slow malingering death of Rome) being the end of the world as they knew it. I can easily see that with the loss of the Roman system, and perhaps the loss of the Library at Alexandria, the Western world lost the heights of magic. Ancient practices that had fought of the end of the world millenia after millenia might be gone, allowing the Outsiders to slip into the world and prepare it for harvest.

Yes, I am once again leaning to something like this for my Next Big Campaign, something that I am always working on.

 

[Vigilance]

And indeed in many ways it was a post-apocolyptic world, the fall of Rome (or, if you prefer, the slow malingering death of Rome) being the end of the world as they knew it. I can easily see that with the loss of the Roman system, and perhaps the loss of the Library at Alexandria, the Western world lost the heights of magic. Ancient practices that had fought of the end of the world millenia after millenia might be gone, allowing the Outsiders to slip into the world and prepare it for harvest.

Yes, I am once again leaning to something like this for my Next Big Campaign, something that I am always working on.

I really like that idea too, its like Cthulhu/meets Dark Ages/meets X-files. I have this image of a bunch of Nazghul from LOTR leading a horde of Huns. Scary.

Chuck

 

[Masada]

Maybe the Black Plague really was a plot of the lower planes to wipe out Europe... Towns could be falling from a legion of plague infected demons in human form. The PC's become the only force that can kill them off before all humankind is consumed.

 

[Vigilance]

Maybe the Black Plague really was a plot of the lower planes to wipe out Europe... Towns could be falling from a legion of plague infected demons in human form. The PC's become the only force that can kill them off before all humankind is consumed.

This is especially appropriate if you look at Europe as it was seen by Europeans of the time. The flagellants went around beating themselves on the *assumption* that the plague was a punishment by God for some sin.

Since many saw the source of that sin as the grandiose nature of the Roman Catholic Church, they frowned on the whole flagellant idea and the concept that the Plague was a punishment. But the common folk firmly believed that.

Chuck

 

[Turanil]

By the way, I hope there will be something (maybe a chapter) about Byzance. It was the remnant of Roman civilization in an age of barbary, and certainly very interesting to play in.